Lets be friends
by Lil-Samuu
Summary: A story set before the beginning of the game, when Colette, Lloyd and Genis are at school.
1. Chapter 1

A long story rather than a single part for a change. Set before the game starts, when Colette, Lloyd and Genis are at school.

No spoilers. Hopefully cuteness, but no spoilers :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. I love it, but I don't own it. Namco do.

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Lloyd wasn't entirely sure about this school business. His dad had told him that it was important and that he'd learn stuff that would help him later on in life. He couldn't, however, see how playing with crayons and writing his name out a bunch of times, which was all he'd seemed to do for the first weeks of school, was going to help him. By the time they moved onto other stuff he was in the frame of mind that the rest of it was probably going to be useless as well.

It wasn't all bad he supposed. Outside lessons where he got to run around were good, and he'd always liked lunch.

As he'd not made any particular friends he sat on a table on his own at lunchtime. He wasn't alone for long though. He groaned as a gaggle of girls who apparently found him 'cute' sat down at his table. He didn't much like them, they seemed superficial and, he'd seen the other day when they'd picked on a small blonde girl who was in his class, capable of being very cruel.

"Hi Lloydey" they giggled as they settled themselves and unpacked lunch bags. The one sitting nearest him sort of curled round him in a gesture he didn't like. The way she had her hand around his arm reminded him of the cat he'd had to set Noishe on after it'd become too vicious towards the wildlife in his and Dirk's garden.

He shrugged out of the girl's grip and tried to concentrate on his lunch.

They were so loud and gesturing so obviously he couldn't help but notice they were gossiping about the small blonde girl. She'd come into the lunch room and was, as far as Lloyd could see, trying to hide from all the other students. She looked scared.

"Who is she?" he asked the girl sitting next to him.

"Who? Her?" the girl pointed so violently and spoke so loudly that the blonde visibly flinched in fear and tried even harder to make herself more hidden in the corner than she already was.

Lloyd felt sorry for her. She looked terrified and as far as he knew she'd done nothing wrong. Maybe the cat-like girl knew a reason why she was to being treated the way she was.

"She's Colette, the chosen one," the girl said in an 'airs and graces' tone.

"She's USELESS at sports" another girl said. "Did you see her yesterday? Kept falling over her own feet!"

"And just look at her! I mean there's no school uniform here, she can wear whatever she likes, but she chooses to wear that dowdy outfit!" another scoffed.

Lloyd thought the outfit looked rather nice, it suited her and was much nicer than the flashy, horrid clothes the girls at his table were wearing. He was getting more and more annoyed at the girls. Apparently there was no good reason for them to act that way towards Colette, and they'd clearly terrified the girl.

He got up as they were still talking about completely stupid reasons to put the girl down.

"Where are you going?" one of them asked when she noticed Lloyd was gathering up his stuff.

"I'm going to go and sit with Colette if she'll let me," he said.

"You're WHAT?!" they shrieked. Lloyd just rolled his eyes and walked over to the table in the corner of the room.

"Excuse me," he smiled when he got there. Colette jumped like she'd been stung by a wasp and whimpered quietly, obviously assuming she was in for more torture.

"S'alright, I don't mean you any harm. Mind if I come and sit here?" he gestured to an empty seat at her table. Colette nodded slowly, still looking a bit weary.

Lloyd plonked himself down in the chair and resumed eating his lunch. He noticed Colette had been doodling pictures of dogs on a scrap of paper next to her lunch.

"You like dogs?" he asked.

Colette nodded nervously.

"You should meet my dog, Noishi. He's huuuuuuuuuuge" Lloyd gestured, stretching his arms out wide. He leaned closer. "He's so big I can climb onto his back and ride across the fields out the back of my house!" he whispered like he was sharing a big secret.

Colette's eyes widened and she whispered back "really?" in a quiet and shy but excited tone.

"Yeap!" Lloyd nodded. "I'm Lloyd, Lloyd Irving, by the way."

"Colette Brunel" she said quietly.

"Nice to meet you!" he beamed at her. She nodded, seeming a little less shy.

"Ugh, I hate these," he held up some small pieces of fruit and stuck his tongue out. "You like?" he asked. Colette nodded.

"Help yourself," he smiled, pushing the container they were in to her side of the table. Then he attacked a sandwhich.

He looked up as he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. Colette was pushing some chocolate from her lunch towards him.

"Please, help yourself, I'm not that hungry" she said so quietly he could barely hear her.

"Awwww, thanks!" he grinned, taking a piece. "I love chocolate!"

Colette smiled, clearly delighted, and took a piece of fruit.

The rest of lunch passed quietly, they didn't have much time to eat today.

When the bell rang to signify the end of lunch Colette leapt up and dashed away to the classroom. Lloyd guessed she was scared of running into the mean girls. He frowned, it wasn't fair.

He headed to class and half fell asleep as the teacher droned on about something that didn't hold his interest.

He was jolted out of a daydream when a piece of paper landed on his desk. He looked up saw Colette quickly turning back to face the front. She'd been the one who passed him the note then.

"Sorry" was scribbled on it in neat handwriting. He tore a sheet of paper from his notebook and quickly wrote "what for?" on it before folding up the note and leaning forward to drop it on her desk when the teacher turned around to write something on the chalkboard.

It was a while before the teacher turned around again after that, but when she did a piece of paper flew onto Lloyd's desk. He unfolded it.

"Those girls are probably mad and won't talk to you again after you sat next to me at lunch," it said.

Lloyd wrote a reply and, the next time the teacher turned around he not only put the note on Colette's desk but, impulsively, also jumped forward to sit on the bench next to Colette. He plopped his stuff on the desk as quietly as possible and pulled his bag from under the bench behind him to the new one by catching the handle with his foot and dragging it.

When the teacher turned to face the class again she noticed something was different, but when Lloyd flashed his best 'Who? Me?' grin she just rolled her eyes, sighed in the way that only old people can when they're exasperated about young people, and returned to teaching the lesson.

Colette passed his note back to him. Under his scribble saying "I don't care, I don't like them. They're horrid!" she'd drawn a cute smiley face and a little doggy. Lloyd smiled at her, and then tried his best to pay attention to the lesson. If his dad said it was important he guessed it must be, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out why knowing little rhymes about which harvests had been in which year would ever come in useful.


	2. Chapter 2

Lloyd to the rescue :)

Mild bit of swearing, mild schoolyard violence and no spoilers.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia.

* * *

Lloyd was very very angry. He was trying to explain to a teacher who didn't seem interested in listening that he hadn't started a fight and that neither he nor Colette should get the blame for it. 

After the day when they'd shared lunch together Lloyd and Colette had become close friends. Lloyd had been pleased to see that when he was around the bullies left Colette alone. And Lloyd was around a lot, where you found Colette you found Lloyd more often than not. None of the bullies was brave enough to try and start a fight with Colette when they knew Lloyd would step in to protect her.

However one day one of the girls who had sat next to Lloyd at lunch before he'd spent his lunchtimes with Colette had gotten jealous. She was used to always getting what she wanted, being a spoiled brat, and didn't like seeing the girl she perceived as being the geeky little drab klutz hanging around with Lloyd.

So she'd gone to see one of the older boys whom she could wrap around her little finger with a bit of eyelash fluttering and cute posing and suggested something to him.

He'd gone away from the conversation believing that if he turned Colette back into the scared little mouse she'd once been he'd get a date with the brat girl. She had no intention of holding up her end of the bargain of course, but he didn't know that.

Colette and Lloyd had decided to have lunch outside that day as the weather was nice. Colette was sitting in a spot of shade under a tree, watching a butterfly flutter lazily past and waiting for Lloyd to return from the main school building when a large shadow loomed over her. She looked up just as the great hulk of a boy had kicked a bunch of dirt at her.

Lloyd walked out of the school building and turned to where he and Colette had been sitting and saw a circle of students, which usually signified a fight. He frantically looked around for Colette and got a horrid sinking feeling in his gut when he couldn't see her. She hated fights, and stayed as far away from them as she could when they broke out in the school yard. The fact that he couldn't see her could only mean one thing.

He leapt into the crowd and pushed and shoved his way through. When he got close to the centre he began to yell "leave her alone!"

The students around him sensed that his presence would make the fight more interesting, and they moved to let him through.

He was furious when he saw what was happening at the centre of the clump of students. A large boy was kicking Colette, who was curled up in a small ball, whimpering in pain and, from the looks of it, barely conscious.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Lloyd screamed furiously at the boy. The bully landed one last kick on Colette before turning around slowly to face Lloyd, who felt sick as he saw Colette's small form crumple. She'd totally lost consciousness it seemed.

"Whadda ya want?" the boy drawled.

"What the HELL did you do that for?" Lloyd screamed. The boy didn't answer with words, he simply spat at Colette's small, limp body.

Lloyd yelled a blood-curdling war cry, grabbed a stick that was lying on the ground nearby and proceeded to swipe at the bully with it. He actually had no intention of fighting the boy while Colette was in her current state. He simply wanted the boy to leave for now, so that he could get Colette inside and get her some medical attention.

The boy, however, was in a mood for a fight.

He threw a punch at Lloyd which the smaller boy dodged with ease. This angered the bully and he continued to strike out at Lloyd more and more wildly and Lloyd kept dodging.

Suddenly Lloyd felt himself being lifted off the ground by someone who'd grabbed the back of his shirt. He dropped the stick he'd been holding and concentrated on trying not to get chocked. As he was swung around to face whoever had picked him up he vaguely noticed the crowd seemed to have dispersed and the bully was making a run for it.

Lloyd sighed with relief when he saw it was a teacher.

"Colette!" he pointed at her as the teacher put him down.

"I'm very disappointed with you Irving," the teacher said as he lifted Colette up and slung her over his shoulder.

It took Lloyd a few moments to realise the meaning of the words as he was busy rubbing his sore neck and feeling sick with worry for Colette who looked like a little rag doll when she was thrown over the teacher's shoulder.

A bleeding rag doll he noticed, wincing in sympathy at a particularly nasty looking wound.

"My office, NOW!" the teacher yelled. 

"Hey! Wait! This isn't my fault! I didn't start this!" Lloyd said as he walked towards the school building. But his pleas fell on deaf ears.

It had taken ages for the teacher to finally listen properly and decide to let Lloyd go with a warning not to fight again and a couple of days detention.

Lloyd didn't care about what he would normally have considered an unfair punishment, he just wanted to make sure Colette was OK.

He skidded into the medical room, his boots squeaking loudly on the floor.

"Don't disturb her," the nurse said glaring at Lloyd before she left to attend to something elsewhere.

He pulled up a chair next to the bed Colette was laid out on and grabbed hold of one of her hands. She was still unconscious, and she looked smaller than usual in the plain white bed.

Lloyd ignored the bell signifying the end of lunch and the start of the next lesson, there was no way he could concentrate with Colette like this.

He wasn't sure how much time passed, but he was greatly relieved when Colette finally began to wake up.

She uttered a swear word Lloyd didn't know she knew.

"What happened?" she asked groggily. Lloyd leapt up from the chair and hugged her, being careful to be gentle and not to hit any of the nasty looking bruises that were appearing on her.

"Some sod beat you up" he said angrily, too enraged to care about his language. Collette swore again, and Lloyd hoped that he wasn't being a bad influence on her language.

"I assume they didn't catch who it was?" she asked. Lloyd sadly shook his head.

"Decided they'd give me a couple of detentions though," he sighed.

"Oh Lloyd," Colette frowned and hugged him.

"I don't get it, if you're the Chosen and everything why don't the teachers do more to protect you?" Lloyd asked.

"Exactly that," Colette answered, and received a puzzled look from Lloyd.

"It's because I'm the Chosen they let it happen, they figure it's good for me because it'll help prepare me for the world regeneration journey," Colette sighed heavily. "Sometimes I wish I was just an ordinary, no, that's selfish," she frowned.

"Harsh!" a small voice sounded from across the room. Lloyd and Colette both jumped, neither had known anyone else was in the room.

"That's really bad you have to put up with that," the owner of the voice, a small, silver haired boy, strolled across the room to Colette's bed. He nodded at them.

"I'm Genis. I'll be coming to school here soon," he said. A look of recognition crossed Colette's face.

"Genis Sage?" she asked. The boy nodded. "You're the little brother of the new teacher who's starting here next term right?" she asked, and received another nod.

"So," Genis said, hopping up onto the end of Colette's bed. "What's it like here?"

"Well for one thing you'll be wanting to bring your own lunch," Lloyd said. "The cafeteria food here's AWFUL!"


	3. Chapter 3

This time the action takes place outside of school, the friends camp out in Lloyd's back yard.

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Tales of Symphonia. I just like writing about it.

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"Come on Genis, go, leave!" Raine yelled. Colette and Lloyd sweat-dropped as they heard a noise that sounded suspiciously like a paper fan impacting with the back of a small skull. 

"Alright, OK, stop hitting me and I'll leave," Genis ran out of the door, grabbing a backpack that was sitting beside it.

"You alright?" Lloyd asked.

"Yeah, I will be," Genis glared in the direction of his house.

"I'm sure Professor Raine was just eager for your fun to start and for the chance to spend some time on her own," Colette said diplomatically.

"She'll just sit studying all the time I'm away like she always does anyways," Genis sighed.

"Well, sometimes it's nice to have time to yourself," Colette added thoughtfully.

"Besides, I thought it was supposed to be easier to study when it's quiet," Lloyd said.

"What would you know about studying?" Genis stuck his tongue out at the older boy. "Hey, wait, are you implying I'm loud?" he asked loudly.

"Well you are, see," Lloyd laughed.

"Hey!" Genis frowned and Colette giggled.

"So, what are we having for dinner?" Genis asked, changing the subject. Lloyd and Colette had gone shopping for food before they'd picked Genis up on the way back to Lloyd's. 

"If you hang on a little while you can choose what you fancy from this lot," Lloyd indicated the bags of shopping he was holding.

"Alright then," Genis nodded.

He and Colette were staying over at Lloyd's. He had to admit they were a little bit of an odd bunch, but as humans went Lloyd and Colette were alright.

On the day she'd met him Colette had been a bit weary of him. It was understandable, she'd been beaten up very badly.

Genis could hardly believe the teachers had allowed the fight to continue for long enough for her to be actually knocked unconscious, but he'd sort of understood the explanation he'd overheard Colette give to Lloyd. The world could be a harsh place if you were different.

Fortunately, as Lloyd was there to get rid of him if he caused any trouble, Colette hadn't minded the small boy staying to talk to them and, once she'd figured out he didn't mean any harm, they had started to become friends.

Colette was a warm hearted person. She just sometimes had to have time to get used to new people.

Genis was amazed at her attitude. Even though she'd been hurt so many times she hadn't become angry or bitter.

Once you got to know her she was such a kind person, and it was clear that she loved life.

Genis wondered what going on the world regeneration journey would do to the girl if it involved going through things like she'd had to put up with so far. He winced as he remembered how she'd looked after that fight, that wasn't at all fair. But then again life wasn't fair was it. All the same.....

"Colette," he looked up at her.

"Yes Genis," she repled.

"How do you do it?" he asked.

"Do what?" she looked puzzled.

Of course, he thought. He'd not said a word of what he'd been thinking about to her

"Put up with all the stuff you have to go through as a Chosen,"

"It's my job," she said. She tipped her head in the gesture Genis knew meant that she was thinking carefully about something. "I've never not been a Chosen, so, uh, this is hard to explain,"

"I think I understand," Genis said. She noticed him looking at a small scar she'd received in the fight.

"Besides, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?" she said, but Genis thought she sounded like she was just reciting it and that, perhaps, she didn't totally believe in what she was saying.

The trio walked in silence for a short time.

"Noishe!" Colette cheered as they neared Lloyd's house. The large, doglike creature let off a little while as the small girl opened the dog pen and flung her arms around the large animal's neck. He just barked a little, used to the affectionate glomps. 

Genis stayed away from Noishe. Despite reassurances from Lloyd and Colette that Noishe was harmless, despite the fact he'd seen the other two playing with the creature, he still felt a little bit afraid of something that was so much bigger than he was.

The trio went around to the back yard after Colette had closed the dog pen again. Lloyd then went through the backdoor to let his dad know they were here and to fetch some things they needed from the house.

Genis sat down and watched as Colette unpacked the food. She'd done this so often it was quicker to let her do this by herself. She opened a packet of chocolate treats and offered one to Genis before taking one for herself.

"Dad says hi, but he's a bit busy so he'll not be coming outside himself for a while," Lloyd said as he appeared with his arms full of blankets and cooking equiptment. He and Colette laid everything out while Genis went to fetch some firewood.

A short while later they settled around a warm fire and were cooking their dinner over it.

Genis, being a good cook, was quickly learning how to cook things just right over the campfire.

He absolutely refused, however, to join in with Lloyd and Colette when they began melting chocolate and marshmallows over toast, saying it looked completely disgusting. He had to admit though, that Colette and Lloyd worked well as a team to cook their favourite snack. They seemed to work perfectly in unison to have all the ingredients prepared at just the right moment.

Colette finished the last of her slices of the gooey treat and sighed a content sigh. Lloyd giggled at her and she tipped her head and blinked in a questioning pose.

Lloyd grabbed a clean piece of cloth and wiped a stray bit of chocolate from the side of Colette's mouth. She blushed and thanked him.

They cleared the dinner things away and then settled down on their blankets. Colette nestled her head on Lloyd's shoulder and all three of them looked up at the mottled pattern of stars in the now dark sky.

"It's amazing, isn't it," Colette thought out loud. "Stars last such a long time, forever, but human lives are so short. Do you think when people die they become angels and they live with the stars?"

"I don't really know," said Lloyd. "They're really amazing though, the way they hang up in the sky like that. Hey Genis, how do they stay up there like that?"

Genis felt too tired to try and explain to Lloyd, and he'd probably not even understand it properly anyways.

"It's magic," the small mage answered. "A special type of magic."

That would do. And, he supposed, it was sort of true. The universe was kinda magic when you thought about it.

He sighed, it seemed Colette thought it was. He didn't have the heart, however, to disillusion her by telling her that even stars died sometimes.

"It's like a giant connect the dots puzzle," Colette said. "Only I can't quite figure out what the dots join up to make."

Genis grinned and moved closer to the other two. One he was settled comfortably he began to explain.

"Well, if you start at that one....." he said, pointing up at the brightest star with a smile.


	4. Chapter 4

Just a short chapter this time :)

Crimson-88 asked in a review about where this story would end. I think I'll probably be ending this one around about the sort of time the game starts, but I'm not completely sure. I've some ideas for another chapter, and that will probably be where it ends, but as I've not finished writing it yet I'd not like to say for definite :)

Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Tales of Symphonia. I think it's absolutely wonderful, but it belongs to Namco as far as I'm aware.

* * *

Colette sighed, absolutely content, as she slurped at a bowl of noodles. She loved staying over at Lloyds. At her house she felt like she was being smothered all the time, like she was being wrapped in cotton wool. She was hardly allowed to do anything, even something as simple as boiling a kettle earned her worried looks until she'd completed the task. 

Dirk, however, understood the importance of letting them have their space and, as long as he was happy that she, Lloyd and Genis were safe, he left them to themselves. He was always nearby in case they needed him, but he was never intrusive.

Colette giggled. Her mother would probably have a fit if she saw her now. She and Lloyd had cooked their dinner themselves (sharp knives and hot water, gasp!) and now she was sitting eating it on the balcony with her legs dangling through the railings. But she knew she was safe, she'd done this plenty of times before.

"Hello!" Lloyd, who was sat beside her, called down to Genis who was making his way up the path.

"I'll be right up!" the small mage called back. "Any of whatever you're having left?"

"By the stove, help yourself," Colette smiled.

The small half-elf soon appeared with a bowl of noodles and plonked himself down next to Lloyd.

"So, whatcha up to?" he asked.

"Nothing much, did some homework, cooked dinner" Lloyd said. "Actually, I'm a bit stuck on one of the questions, maybe you could help me with it later? Colette's not too sure about it herself."

Genis groaned inwardly but found himself saying alright anyway.

Even the first time he'd met Lloyd, the very first time he'd met Lloyd and Colette, he'd ended up helping the older boy with homework, math notes spread across the bed Colette had been resting in. He couldn't remember quite how they'd ended up working on homework. He had wondered whether the two were trying to take advantage of the fact that he was a teacher's smart little brother, but they weren't like that. And they helped him when they could too. Lloyd's shoulders were a great vantage point when he couldn't see over crowds for example.

"Sorry to be a bother," Colette apologised.

Genis noticed that Colette seemed to say sorry an awful lot. It appeared that she hated to think she was being a bother to anyone. He'd also noticed a lot of the time she didn't seem happy being treated differently because she was the Chosen. Genis had talked to Raine who, as a teacher, was guilty of treating Colette differently, but it hadn't changed his sister's behaviour, the older half-elf still stuck up for Colette whenever she could. Although admittedly this was unusual behaviour for a teacher, mostly it was the other way around.

It wasn't that Colette didn't appreciate the help, it was just, as far as Genis could see, that she didn't like receiving special treatment just because of who she'd been born as.

Then again, he supposed, it was because of who she'd been born as that she needed extra help.

He slurped up the last of the noodles.

"So," he said. "What's giving you some hassle?"

"The one about all the angles and shapes and stuff," Lloyd frowned as he stood up and went into the house. He returned with some of his and Colette's school books and settled down again. Genis attempted to explain the problem in the simplest way he could. 

It took a while, but eventually they got it.

"Thanks Genis," Lloyd and Colette said as they put their homework away. 

"That's alright," he said. "Fancy a game of cards?" he asked as he grabbed a deck from Lloyd's desk.

"Why not?" Colette smiled as they returned to the balcony and Genis shuffled the cards. Lloyd had grabbed a packet of hard boiled sweets and he passed them out evenly. It never mattered who won, but playing for sweets added a little extra excitement to the game.

Trouble was, he thought after a few rounds of pontoon, that the sweets were just too yummy for their own good. Unable to resist any longer he grabbed one from his pile, unwrapped it and popped it into his mouth happily.

"Lloyd!" Genis frowned. "Don't eat the chips!" 

"Sorry," Lloyd smiled and sweatdropped. Then he had an idea and a grin spread across his face. He took a sweet each from Genis and Colette's pile and put them into his mouth as well.

"There," he grinned. "Now it's even again."

"Lloyd!" Genis and Colette said in exasperated tones, rolling their eyes. But then the game continued, antics like those were too fun to be a serious interruption.


	5. Chapter 5

Last chapter of Lets be friends :) It won't be my last fic though, I've still got plenty more ideas for things to write :)

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Tales of Symphonia. I believe Namco do

* * *

Genis saw teeth, sharp teeth, and sharper claws."Oh God! I'm going to die!" was the only thing that came to the small boy's mind. He couldn't run. He knew he should, but he couldn't. 

"It's gonna eat me whole and not even taste me," he thought as the monster advanced. The dark creature pounced and Genis shut his eyes and screamed.

His eyes snapped open again when he heard another scream join his own. This one, however, was not a scream of fear but a scream of anger.

"Lloyd!" Genis yelled as he saw the older boy knock the monster sideways. The creature turned its attention to the red clad boy who stopped its claws with a thankfully sturdy wooden sword.

"Lloyd?" this time Genis said it as a question. The older boy was being defensive, not making any blows at the creature. Genis didn't understand.

THONK! A large rock hit the creature's skull.

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYY!" a voice called from across the clearing, and another rock accompanied the yell.

"Colette?" Genis had no idea what was going on, other than that he and his friends were in danger.

Lloyd edged closer to him as the creature skittered around confused, trying to decide which prey to go for.

Another rock to the skull made it shift to leap across the clearing.

"COLETTE!" Genis screamed. Lloyd grabbed the small mage and swung him around his shoulders. Genis instinctively clung onto him like a koala.

Lloyd practically ran up a large tree and only stopped when he'd reached a high, sturdy branch. Once he was sure of his footing and had set Genis down beside him he turned to where Genis's attention was, across the clearing.

Lloyd let out a sigh of relief. As soon as the monster had started for her Colette had leapt up a tree as well. As she was light she'd been able to jump pretty high up before quickly scrambling up as far as she could. As the clearing was large and she was fast she'd managed to get high enough up the tree to be out of the monster's reach before it got to her.

The monster hissed and spat, and started to prowl around the clearing. Apparently it couldn't climb trees.

But, thought Genis, they were all now stuck up the trees.

"What?" he turned to Lloyd, but before he could ask any more he noticed the monster begin to make different noises.

He glanced worriedly across the clearing. No, Colette was still safe on her high branch. She was looking away from the clearing, however, as though there was something in it she didn't want to see.

Genis looked down and suddenly understood. Noishe, now a fierce ball of teeth and claws, was fighting with the monster. The others had wanted to get him out of the way so he wasn't accidentally caught up in that.

He winced as he heard a loud crack-snap sound. He looked carefully down at Noishe and was relieved to see him walk away from the now limp monster.

No one moved for a short while. Then suddenly Lloyd put Genis back on his shoulders and climbed down from the tree. He rushed across to Noishe and grabbed Colette, who'd also made her way to the dog-like creature, in a hug.

Genis scrambled down from Lloyd's shoulders and took a look at the dead monster.

"That thing almost killed me!" he thought as he blacked out.

Dirk arrived in the clearing and ran up to Lloyd and Colette who'd slumped, exhausted, against Noishe, all their adrenaline spent.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Saw monster attack Genis from balcony," Colette huffed.

"Came to rescue," Lloyd finished. 

"Is he?" Dirk was afraid to ask as he saw the tiny limp form beside them.

"Blacked out, best get to Professor Raine," Lloyd wheezed.

Dirk helped Lloyd and Colette onto Noishe's back and then picked Genis up.

"Lead the way," he said, and Lloyd pointed in the correct direction as Noishe slowly trotted off.

Raine's reaction when she saw her brother was pretty much what the others had expected. She screamed.

"It's alright, he's OK," Dirk said, and the half-elf calmed down a little.

"What?" she asked as she took her younger brother and placed him in his bed.

"Monster," Lloyd panted, he'd still not gotten his breath back properly.

"BIIIIIIIIG monster," Colette said in a similar fashion, although she managed to find enough energy to gesture with her arms to emphasise how big the monster was.

"These two saw it attack and rushed out to help him. The lad should be OK, he's just had a nasty shock is all," Dirk said.

"Thank you!" Raine nodded to Lloyd and Colette.

"Nuuugggh," Genis woke up a little.

"Genis, are you OK?" Raine asked. 

"Big teeth, almost ate me!" Genis sniffled and then began to cry. Raine held her brother in a tight hug and the others decided it was best to leave them alone.

That night Colette couldn't sleep, and neither could Lloyd. When the girl sat up and got out of her sleeping bag to move closer to the dying campfire the pair had lit in the back garden earlier Lloyd joined her.

He sat beside her and wrapped a blanket around them both.

Colette sighed.

"I just keep getting the feeling something big's about to happen," she said eventually, turning her eyes from the fire to Lloyd.

"Mmm," he replied. "Niggly feeling there's something around the corner that won't go away?" he asked.

"That's the one," she replied, knowing he must be feeling it too.

"Don't worry, I'll stay by your side whatever happens, like I always have," Lloyd smiled and pulled her closer for a hug.

A short time later a bright flash of light made its way through a classroom window which signalled the start of some big changes, not just for the residents of Iselia, but for the entire population of two worlds.


End file.
